Michael Avenatti, the attorney for ex-porn star Stormy Daniels, is seriously considering running for president. And Iowa Democrats are seriously taking a look at him, according to an NBC News article published Tuesday.

Avenatti, 47, is testing the 2020 waters in Iowa. He’s toured the state fair and delivered political speeches to crowds of all-important Democratic activists in the first-in-the-nation-caucus state. His pitch to voters is simple: To beat President Donald Trump, Democrats shouldn’t nominate a presidential candidate; they should nominate a fighter. He’s betting that personalities are more important than ideas in politics.

“I think that if the Democratic Party focuses on nominating who will make the best president, that’s going to be a critical mistake,” Avenatti told NBC News. “There’s only one question at the end of the day, and that question is: Can the potential nominee beat Donald Trump?”

It’s apparently a message with an audience. Avenatti was invited to give the closing speech at an Iowa Democratic fundraiser known as the “Wing Ding” dinner, where he was well received, according to organizer Randy Black.

Other Iowa Democrats appeared energized — the dinner sold more than 400 tickets in the week after Avenatti’s attendance was confirmed. With other 2020 hopefuls seemingly reluctant to draw attention to themselves at this early stage, there was an opening for a newcomer like Avenatti, and “he did a darn good job,” Black added.

Potential caucus-goers seemed to agree.

“Ordinarily, a Joe Biden type of person would’ve been my candidate, but what he said tonight was exactly what I thought before I came,” said Mary Pat Cole, who attended the dinner. “We do need a fighter and he could stand up to Trump.”

Do you see what’s going on here? To beat Trump in 2020, some Democrats think they need a candidate who is a clone of the president in some ways: a non-politician with a brash, abrasive attitude, who fights. Someone with little political experience, but a loud mouth and crazy far-left positions. Here’s a glance at Avenatti’s campaign platform, as tweeted Tuesday:

Many have asked me my position on various issues. Below is a summary of where I stand. This is not an exhaustive list and more positions & details will follow. Most importantly, I didn't have to hire a pollster or political consultant to tell me what to say or what to believe. pic.twitter.com/hbXj1Vv3O9

Free health care, radically pro-abortion, pro-amnesty, pro-gun control … it’s a grab bag of Democratic talking points presented by a man with no qualifications to be president. But Avenatti says qualifications don’t matter because a reality TV star is president of the United States, and Avenatti is smarter, more compassionate, and braver than Trump — according to Avenatti.

“I certainly think I’m more qualified than the existing commander in chief. I think I am more intelligent. I think I have a bigger heart. I think I have more courage. I think I would certainly command more respect,” he said. But he would “surround myself with the best people,” and actually listen to them.

“There are some similarities related to our form. No question about it,” he said. “But this guy is a moron. He’s an egomaniac. Nobody wants to work with him. I don’t want to be compared to that.”

Too bad, Avenatti, you’re going to be compared to Trump because you’re a cheap leftist knockoff of the president. And if Democrats think that’s what the American people want, they’re sorely mistaken. Running on a platform of “Trump sucks and I’ll fight him” is only going to appeal to progressives and NeverTrumpers — people who already lost to Trump. There’s not a single Trump Democrat who didn’t know what they were getting into by voting for Trump in 2016, and none of them will change their minds or votes about Trump because an ambulance-chasing lawyer with an attitude calls the president names when speaking to the media.

Democrats (and some Republicans) who think that Trump won because he “fights” don’t understand this president at all. It wasn’t just that Trump fights, that he hits back against every attack from the mainstream media where other Republicans can’t or won’t, but also that Trump articulated a vision for the country that appealed to mainstream Americans. Most Americans want strong and secure borders, issues Republican consultants told other candidates to downplay or avoid. Most Americans want jobs and a strong economy, which Trump claimed he could deliver thanks to his business acumen. Most Americans want a strong national defense and a president who never apologizes to the world for America, and Trump never apologizes.

Trump’s personality aligned with positions on the issues that Americans want championed, and that’s why he’s president. Democrats who want to replicate Trump’s success by picking a “fighter” who will champion open borders, political correctness, raising taxes, socialized medicine, or any other failed idea from the ash heap of history are missing the point. And they’re going to lose.

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Author: Chris Pandolfo

Chris Pandolfo is a staff writer and type-shouter for Conservative Review. He holds a B.A. in politics and economics from Hillsdale College. His interests are conservative political philosophy, the American founding, and progressive rock. Follow him on Twitter for doom-saying and great album recommendations @ChrisCPandolfo.